Nearly $50 million in holdback funding provided to school districts

The school district has received its full complement of funding now that enrolment figures are officially in.

School District 20 (Kootenay Columbia) will receive its $227,055 in hold back funding based on actual September enrolment numbers.

Before the start of every school year, the ministry holds back a portion of the overall funding in case student enrolment is higher than forecast. These holdback funds are then released to school districts as enrolment is counted during the year.

The holdback is used as a contingency to fund districts for enrolment greater than the district estimated enrolment and preliminary allocation. Holdback not required for this purpose becomes available for allocation to all districts.

Enrollment across the district declined from 3,889.8 school age full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollments to 3,784.2, a 2.7 per cent drop. For that, the district received $229,992 under enrollment decline grants.

Across the province about $17.8 million will be used to fund higher student enrolment in some districts. Another $31.6 million will be distributed to all districts in the form of a grant recalculation at $60 per school-age FTE.

A further $10.2 million remains in the holdback to address enrolment growth reflected in the February and May counts.

Enrolment counts are undertaken for summer, September, February and May. The districts’ preliminary allocations are adjusted after each of the enrolment counts: Sept. 30; February and May.

District preliminary allocation will increase if actual enrolment is higher than district estimated enrolment; and consequently decline if actual enrolment is lower than district estimated enrolment;

The district will also be receiving $655,249 in funding protection. Funding protection is calculated at the September enrolment count only—this supplemental grant is calculated last and ensures that districts do not experience a funding decline of greater than 1.5 per cent compared to the previous year for the September count.

The full operating grant from the province for SD20 is $34,946,471 as of September 2013, with basic enrollment funding making up $26,111,541 of that amount.

The full operating block, including holdback, must be allocated to districts by June 30 of the current school year.

Within its total amount, the district also received $2.9 million for unique student needs, $3.5 million for unique geographic factors and $1.3 million under salary differential.